Contents

Gameplay

The gameplay is very similar to the previous game in the series,
Ultima
I. The scope of the game is bigger, in that there are
several more places to explore, even though some of them (like most
of the solar system planets and the dungeons and towers) are
optional and not really needed to complete the game.

In the game, the player has to travel to several different time
periods of Earth, using time doors. The periods are the Time of
Legends (a mythological period), Pangea (about 300 to 250 million years
ago), B.C. (1420, "before the dawn of civilization"), A.D. (1990),
and the Aftermath (after 2111).[2]
The player also has to travel to space, where he can visit all the
planets in the solar system.[2]

Plot

From the game's story, we learn that the lover of the dark wizardMondain, the enchantressMinax, is threatening Earth through disturbances in the
space-time continuum. The player must guide a hero through time and
the solar system in order to defeat her evil
plot.

The young Minax survived her paramour's death at the hands of
the Stranger (in Ultima
I) and went into hiding. Several years later, Minax got
older and very powerful, more than Mondain once was.[2][3]
Minax wanted to avenge the death of her lover, so she used the time
doors created by Mondain's defeat to travel to the Time of Legends,
a place located at the origin of times.[2]
From there, she sent her evil minions to all the different time
eras; she also used her dark powers to disturb the fabric of time
and influence men, who ultimately destroyed each other in the far
future, nearly wiping out humanity.[2]

Lord British called for a
hero to crush Minax's evil plans. The Stranger once again answered
British's call.[2]
The game begins with the Stranger starting his quest to defeat
Minax. Minax's castle, named Shadowguard, can only be reached
through time doors (similar to moongates in the later games); even
then an enchanted ring is required to pass through the force fields
inside. The war against Minax's vile legions is long and hard, but
eventually the hero hunts down the sorceress to the Time of
Legends, pursues her as she teleports throughout the castle, and
destroys her with the quicksword Enilno.

It's interesting to note that this game is set on Earth. Even
though Ultima I is set on the fictional land of Sosaria,
Ultima II borrowed characters and the story of Ultima
I, but relocated them to Earth with no explanation. Later
games in the Ultima series ret-conned this, and assumed
that Ultima II actually happened on Sosaria[3],
not Earth, to create a continuity among the games.

Development and versions

Ultima II was the first game of the series to be coded
completely in assembly language rather than in
interpreted BASIC. Playing speed
and reaction time were vastly improved over the original release of
Ultima
I. In fact, when running the games on one and the same
computer, Ultima II is the fastest game of the series due
to its relative simplicity.

Since Richard Garriott was attending college at the time, it
took him almost two years to create Ultima II. [4]

Ultima II was the first game in the series to include a
cloth map inside the box, which would become a staple of the
franchise. This map, which illustrated how the time doors were
linked, was inspired by the one seen in the film Time
Bandits.[5] Two
versions of this map were produced. The first version is of a
heavier and thicker material. This map can be found in the large
boxed (8"x11") Apple II and Atari 800 versions of the
game. Later production runs of the game featured a much smaller box
and a lighter weight map.

It was also the first game to be officially ported to platforms
other than the Apple II. Versions for the IBM PC with CGA graphics, Commodore 64, Atari ST and Atari
800 were published. (An Atari 800 version of Ultima I
was published in 1982, some considerable time after Ultima
II's release; Atari ST version was published in 1985.)

The original Apple Ultima II received an audiovisual
upgrade in 1989, bringing its graphics up to date with more recent
games in the series much as was done with Ultima I. This
"enhanced" version was only available as part of the Ultima
Trilogy I-II-III box set released that year and discontinued
only months later, and is considered exceptionally rare today. (The
Commodore and IBM versions of the Ultima Trilogy include
the original, unenhanced versions of the game for their respective
platforms.)

The game was re-released several times later in CD-ROM PC compilations, including
1998's Ultima Collection. All these
re-releases are missing necessary map files for planets other than
Earth, rendering the game unwinnable. Modern computers also
generate a divide by zero
error when attempting to run the game. These issues are
addressed in a series of official patches, which are
available from a variety of Ultima fansites. The game is
known to run without errors and at an acceptable speed in a DOSBox environment, provided the
missing map files are present.

Reception

Upon its initial release, Computer Gaming World gave
Ultima II a glowing review, noting its vast improvements
over the original, particularly in the amount of detail.
CGW also praised the great scope of the work, even though
little of it is necessary to complete the game; it was suggested
that additional scenarios would continue to be added leading up to
an "Ultimate" quest.[6]

Ultima II sold over 50,000 in 1982, and over 100,000
copies to date.[7]